“Vegetable Love,” by Barbara Kafka (Artisan, $35)
Stories of peas and a zillion other vegetables, green and otherwise, twine as appetizingly as pea vines around some 750 recipes, plus endless variations, in food writer Barbara Kafka’s most recent book, “Vegetable Love.”
Gardening and cooking, says Kafka, who is 72, have been lifelong interests. A dismaying start came very early on when she was put in charge of the family’s World War II victory garden. She couldn’t understand why things took so long to come up, she says. “I hated it.” But later she learned to love gardening from watching the English gardener at her childhood home in Westport, Conn.
This passionately focused book won the 2006 International Association of Culinary Professionals’ best single-subject cookbook award.
The term “single subject” barely covers Kafka’s worldwide survey of an abundance of irrepressibly varied produce. The book’s recipes are backed by a cook’s guide section, a dictionary of vegetables taking readers in helpful detail alphabetically from amaranth to watercress.|Joan Brunskill, The Associated Press
Stories of peas and a zillion other vegetables, green and otherwise, twine as appetizingly as pea vines around some 750 recipes, plus endless variations, in food writer Barbara Kafka’s most recent book, “Vegetable Love” (Artisan, $35).
Gardening and cooking, says Kafka, who is 72, have been lifelong interests. A dismaying start came very early on when she was put in charge of the family’s World War II Victory Garden. She couldn’t understand why things took so long to come up, she says. “I hated it.” But later she learned to love gardening from watching the English gardener at her childhood home in Westport, Conn.
This passionately focused book won the 2006 International Association of Culinary Professionals’ best single-subject cookbook award.
The term “single subject” barely covers Kafka’s worldwide survey of an abundance of irrepressibly varied produce. The book’s recipes are backed by a cook’s guide section, a dictionary of vegetables taking readers in helpful detail alphabetically from amaranth to watercress.
– Joan Brunskill, Associated Press
More online: Pasta with Asparagus Sauce, “Soup” of Small Peas With Fresh Herbs, and Sautéed Spinach and Sorrel denverpost.com/food
Pasta With Asparagus Sauce
For the following pasta dish, Kafka uses bought Italian egg noodles. The recipe emphasizes the elegance of asparagus with a minimum of ingredients.
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
Separate the asparagus tips from the stems. Cut the stems into 1 1/2-inch pieces.
Reserve the stems and tips individually.
Bring about 1 quart water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the asparagus stems. Cook for 7 to 8 minutes, until a knife easily slips into the flesh. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve. Add the asparagus tips to the water. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, just until tender.
With the slotted spoon, remove to a strainer or colander; rinse under cold running water.
Drain; reserve.
Add the trimmings to the water. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the broth is reduced to 1 cup and tastes strongly of asparagus. Strain the broth, pressing down on the solids to extract as much flavor as possible. Discard the solids.
Put the reserved stems through a food mill fitted with the medium disc to remove the fibers; there will be a generous 1/2 cup liquid. Strain through a fine sieve to remove any remaining fibers.
Reserve.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook for 2 minutes, or until softened but still quite firm. Drain.
Combine the asparagus broth and liquid in the pot. Bring to a boil. Stir in the pasta.
Cook over low heat, stirring continuously, until the liquid is mostly absorbed. Stir in the salt, pepper, oil and asparagus tips. Cook for a few minutes longer, until the liquid is fully absorbed. Serve immediately, topped with Parmesan, if desired.
Makes 5 cups, 4 first-course servings.
Sauteed Spinach and Sorrel
“This sorrel looks like a fiercesome amount but you have to remember that all these greens just disappear on you when you cook them,” Kafka says as she prepares her saute of spinach and sorrel.
After washing the spinach, shake off excess water but don’t blot it dry. The water left clinging to the spinach will evaporate over heat and cook the spinach without the addition of oil, she explains.
This is a versatile dish, very light, but you can add creme fraiche to make it more substantial, Kafka says. It also freezes well, and it’s a forgiving recipe that can be increased to make a larger quantity, or divided to make less, Kafka says.
“Vegetables can be many different things. This also can be a soup base – add chicken stock or vegetable stock. You can serve it with pasta – add more oil. And it’s also nice with an egg shirred on top, or with fish, like a sauce, with salmon, or rolled fillet of sole.
“It has everything: the unctuousness of the oil, the tannic spinach, the parsley accent.”
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
In a large nonreactive pan, cook the shallots in the oil over medium-low heat until translucent. Add the parsley and sorrel.
Increase the heat to medium-high. Cook until the sorrel has just wilted and changed color, 5 to 6 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Reserve.
Put a large saucepan over medium heat and add the spinach in three batches, continuously turning it up from the bottom and allowing each batch to wilt before adding the next. Remove from the heat as soon as all the leaves have wilted and turned to a bright green.
Drain in a sieve, pushing down on the spinach until mostly dry.
Add the spinach to the sorrel mixture. Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and heat through.
Makes 3 1/2 cups.
‘Soup’ of Small Peas With Fresh Herbs
The following dish – originally Soupe de Petits Pois aux Herbes Fraiches – is a recipe given to Kafka by the famous French chef Pierre Gagnaire.
She says she wouldn’t call it a real soup, and Gagnaire served it as a side dish.
Regardless, she calls it “simply wonderful,” at its very best when the peas are fresh and young and small. She says she’s made it with frozen tiny peas and it is still very good.
“Gagnaire peels his peas,” she recalls with amusement how the chef pops the skins off.
“I did it once and I’ll never do it again. Peeling peas is not something we need.”
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
In a large saucepan, bring 5 cups water to a boil with the salt.
Add the peas and cook for 3 minutes. Remove the peas from the water, put in a sieve and cool under cold running water.
In the same boiling water, cook the parsley, cilantro, spinach, lemon balm, mint and arugula for about 7 minutes. Drain and cool under cold running water. Press the greens to remove as much water as possible.
Put the greens in a food processor or blender. Gradually add the milk and olive oil, then add salt and pepper and process until a very smooth sauce is formed.
At the last minute, cut the reserved mint and balm leaves into thin strips. Warm the peas in the butter; season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the green sauce to the peas, and add a little more milk if desired. Sprinkle with the herb strips and serve immediately.
Makes about 4 cups.
